Labor Unions and Social Media

I just came across this fabulous free Online Webinar given by Jessica Miller-Merrell and Jon Hyman http://www.blogging4jobs.com/webinars/unions-nlrb-social-media-webinar/  It is really great; lots of useful information.
of Blogging4Jobs about the nature of union tactics, the current activism within the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and the use social media for organizing.  It is really interesting how aggressively unions are targeting workers at companies such as Sodexo, Walmart, and Apple to recruit people to join as members.  Human Resources need to be aware that this activity is going on.  It is not just union members handing out leaflets or marching around with a giant rat in front of your workplace.  As companies are getting smarter about targeting their ads to individual customers, unions are also getting smarter about targeting their messages to specific employees at specific companies.  They recommend preparing a rapid response team to be able to conduct an investigation quickly if a union situation erupts at your workplace and you need to protect your company’s reputation.  I highly suggest checking out this Webinar: 

And remember all of you Human Resources professionals: Be Human... Be a Resource... Be a Resource for Humans.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post are by the author Trevor Stasik, and do not necessarily reflect the views of any employer or any other organization. Please note, this information is based on my understanding and is only to be used for informational and educational purposes. Do not take what I am writing as advice. Seek your own legal counsel and/or see a tax accountant before making business or personal decisions. The author of this post makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.

Internet Videos in the Workplace

I like turtles!  Is this real life?  Walk Gangnam Style.  These are just a few of the catch phrases used in funny Internet videos.  These catchy videos often create memes that are replicated over and over again as other people make their own videos referencing the original.  This is very much the same way these videos could be the source of a productivity drain on your company.  Welcome to another installment of "Casual Friday," my humorous look at something in Human Resources, Management, or Business.  Please take a moment at the end of my post to comment on the effect of internet videos on your workplaces.

Internet Videos in the Workplace

18% of all time wasted at work is by employees messing around on the internet.  Some of them might be checking Facebook, Twitter, or Google +.  Some of them might be checking up on their March Madness.  However, one of the other major culprit of productivity drain through the internet are funny videos.  15% of all videos watched are these viral videos. 

Next time you are in the office, think about how much time and money are being spent on cat videos:  http://www.maniacworld.com/cat-videos.html  If you are at work, seriously, how many of you clicked on that link to look at cat videos?  How productive was that?  There are numerous IT solutions that can be used for tracking and monitoring the websites that employees use and the large amount of bandwidth that comes from watching these videos.  Be sure to include a notice in your employee handbook that you will be tracking your workers online actions.  You may also want to consider filtering and blocking websites that use too much bandwidth, as these could be internet video time wasters.

On The Other Hand

First, keep in mind that not all workers are wasting time watching useless videos online.  Some of them may be watching instructional or industry related videos that are most easily accessed on YouTube.  Some workers may be doing background research for an upcoming meeting.  Do not automatically assume all workers watching videos online are wasting company time on your company’s dime.  Finally, consider that if your workers are actually wasting a few minutes watching a funny video, they may be an indication that they need a break.  70% of employees believe short breaks throughout the day are beneficial to their productivity.  Consider the output and productivity of the worker watching the funny video before considering discipline.  If they are completing more than their share of the workload for your team, perhaps funny internet videos are exactly what they need to stay productive.

And remember all of you Human Resources professionals: Be Human... Be a Resource... Be a Resource for Humans.

Useful links:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223686

http://wistia.com/blog/what-kinds-of-videos-do-americans-watch-at-work/

http://www.bizreport.com/2011/09/two-thirds-of-americans-watch-online-video-at-work.html

http://www.boltinsurance.com/news/miscellaneous/workplace-productivity-infographic/

http://complianceandsafety.com/blog/workplace-productivity-infographic-hardly-working/

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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this post are by the author Trevor Stasik, and do not necessarily reflect the views of any employer or any other organization. Please note, this information is based on my understanding and is only to be used for informational and educational purposes. Do not take what I am writing as advice. Seek your own legal counsel and/or see a tax accountant before making business or personal decisions. The author of this post makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.

Excel Drop-Down List

I was practicing with Excel this evening and thought that I would do a short post on it. Excel is a useful spreadsheet tool in finance and it has many different functions. One function that I've been practicing tonight is the Drop-Down list. This a like a multiple choice test where you get to choose the answer you want to fill in the blank.

Okay, so say that you are creating a log of the S&P Credit Ratings for your investments and rather than have to type in the rating every time, you would like to be able to choose that rating from a list. Here's how you could do that:
1) Open up a new spreadsheet page and label the page something like "Menu Items"
2) Type down in the column what you'd like to have in the list. In this example, AAA, AA, A, BBB and so forth...
3) Next you will want to name the list. Select all of the items in the list. Then go to the top left hand corner of the formula bar and type in what you would like to name it. You can use the name "Ratings" or something similar. Be sure to press Enter.
4) Go back to the spreadsheet page where you would like the drop down list to appear, and select the cell where you want to put that list. In the menu at the top, click on Data and select Validation.
5) A little box will appear. You will want to choose to allow "List" and then use an equal sign with the name of your list at the bottom. In this example, I'll use "=Ratings". Press OK or hit enter.
6) You now have a handy dandy drop down menu for your excel file. Click and drag the right hand bottom corner of the cell to populate additional cells with your list.

You now have a drop down list in your excel spreadsheet. There are more options of what you can do with your drop down list, check out Microsoft's help center HERE. I hope that this has been helpful for you.



Finance, Excel, Drop-Down, List